Why the World Race?

What a journey this decision has been and will continue to be. I’m excited, nervous, eager, a little scared…probably a bit of every emotion you could think of, but in each challenge God is teaching me something very valuable. 

So how did I end up here? It’s a pretty long story of me wanting to do things my own way, God making clear His plans for me, lots of asking and listening, being reminded that His plans are always best, and stepping out in faith and obedience. I’ve seen God at work throughout this entire process, He is so intentional, so personal, so patient, and He knows best, always.  

I’ve had my plans for after high school set since my sophomore year. I knew exactly which college I wanted to go to, what I wanted to study, and even what I wanted to do after college. I thought I had everything perfectly planned out for myself, but little did I know, God had something completely different in store. The idea of a gap year mission trip crossed my mind this past summer and I did a little research on it and found the World Race Gap Year program, but I kept coming up with reasons why I shouldn’t do it: I could never live out of a backpack for nine months, I’m not qualified for this, I’m not great at talking to people, I’ll never be able to fundraise enough money…the list goes on and on. I quickly came to realize this was the enemy speaking. God wouldn’t call me to do something if He wasn’t going to provide everything I needed for it.  But the truth is that I can’t do it on my own, and that’s okay because I know that through Him I can do all things. In my moments of weakness He is and forever will be my strength, I don’t need to be scared of my weakness, because His power is made perfect in my weakness.  

At some point you have probably heard someone say “God is calling me to…” Everytime I would hear someone say that, I would wonder how they knew and were so sure about it, but now I understand…you will KNOW. It was made so clear to me that this is what I was supposed to do that doing anything else would be blatant disobedience. Every time I would dismiss the idea, God would speak to me in some way through sermons, mentors, scripture I was reading, my devotional, or other little “coincidences” that were clearly Him communicating with me. When I tell you He made it clear, I mean it was crystal clear. Although this is never how I would have envisioned my post high school plans, I am beyond excited for this opportunity to grow deeper in my relationship with Him, to serve and love others who deeply need it, to bring hope to the hopeless, and to share the Good News to those who are unfamiliar with it.

So, in short, that’s how I ended up here. A step in obedience to Him, a lesson that His plans are best even when they don’t line up with the ones I’ve made for myself. My why is and will always be Jesus-my life doesn’t belong to me, it is fully His. My goal is and will always be to spread His love and build His kingdom wherever I am. This is my yes to Him. This is me denying myself and making a choice to follow Him into a place that is way out of my comfort zone and will require me to be solely dependent on Him. 

His plans over my own, always.

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Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.  Matthew 28:19-20

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.  Acts 20:24

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  Acts 1:8